Mail-pouch catcher and deliverer.



N0. 687,198. PMGMGII NDVJ ZS, I90l.

T. W. COBB &. H. S. WRIGHT.

MAIL POUCH CATCHEB AND DELIVERER.

(Application filed June 27, 1901.)

(No Model.)

. VIIIIIII IIII III THOMAS W. COBB AND HENRY S. WRIGHT, OF POWDER MILLS, KENTUCKY.

PATENT OFFICE.

MAIL-POUCH CATCHER AND DELIVER ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 687,198, dated November 26, 1901.

Application filed June 27, 1901.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, THOMAS W. COBB and HENRY S. WRIGHT, citizens of the United States, residing at Powder Mills,in the county of Hart and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Mail-Pouch Catcher and Deliverer, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for catching and delivering mail-pouches at railwaystations without stopping the trains; and it consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter shown and described, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings illustrative of the invention, Figure 1 is a transverse sectional detail of a portion of a mail-car and the mail-pouchsupporting framework at the side of the track, illustrating the construction and operation of the invention. Fig. 2 is a plan View, partially in section, of the parts shown in Fig. 1. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are-details of diiferent parts of the structure. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of a portion of one of the plates or arms having a slightly-modified construction of pouchengaging projection.

The device is applicable to any form of mail-car and may be connected to be operated through one of the side doorways or through an opening especially formed for it in the side of the car; but for the purpose of illustration we have shown the device arranged to be operated through one of the usual doorwayopenings 1 in the side of the car 2.

3 4 are two plates, preferably of wood, connected together by a vertical frame 5 and arranged to slide transversely of the car 2 upon a, framework 6 in suitable guides 7, the guide or lower member 4 being supplied with antifriction-rollers, if preferred. The framework 3 4 5 is thus capable of being extended outward, so that it projects from the side of the car, or to be withdrawn entirely into the car when not in use or when the car is moving between the stations. The lower plate 4 is longer than the upper plate 3, as shown, the vertical distance between the plates being a little greater than the length of a mail-pouch.

Projecting horizontally from the sides of the edges of both the plates 3 and 4 are pins 8, the pins all being in vertical alinement and Serial No. 66,308. (No model.)

adapted to support the mail-pouch by means of the loops 9 on the pouches, as shown in Fig. 5. By this means a mail-pouch suspended by its loops 9 to any adjacent pair of the pins 8 may be easily removed by any force movingin the direction toward the outer or free ends of the pins on which the pouch is supported.

As a precaution against the accidental or premature removal of the pouch a spring 10 will be attached above the plate 3 and with its ends curving downward in contact with the pins 8, and below the plate 4, with its ends curving upward against the projecting pins 8, will be asimilar spring-plate 11. The springs 10 and 11 will be strong enough to resist any force to-which the mail-pouches would be subjected while suspended from the supporting-frames prior to their forceful removal by the movement of the train, but will readily yield to the force exerted by the moving train.

In opposite sides of the projecting end of the lower plate 4 are recesses 12, in which spring-plates 13 are secured, the outer ends 13 of the springs projecting beyond the edges of the plate and'curving outward in both directions away from the mouths of the recesses. The mouths of the recesses are slightly contracted, as shown, and cut away, as at 14, so as to allow for the expansion of the spring. These recesses 12. and the springs 13 will be large enough to receive a mail-pouch at its central portion when the springs are forcefully moved against the pouch by the movement of the train, and the springs will be strong enough to support the pouches in the recesses when thus forced into them. By this means when amail-pouch is to be delivered to a moving train the pouch is suspended in the proper position at the side of the railway-track for the spring 13 to engage it, so that when the plate 4 is moved to its outward position and the train passes the pouch will. be caught in the recess and be withdrawn into the car by the withdrawal of the plate 4.

When a pouch is to be delivered from the car, it is suspended from the pins 8 on the sides of the plates 3 and 4 toward the rear of the train and a means,corresponding to the recess 12 and spring 13, arranged at the proper point at the side of the track to intercept and catch the pouch as the train passes.

In order-to make the device double-acting or adapted to both deliver and receive pouches at the same time, duplicates of the plates 3 and 4 and their attachments will be arranged at suitable points at the sides of the track. One of these duplicate or stationary combined receivers and deliverers is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 mounted upon a supportingframework 15, the plates and their pins, springs, and recesses being designated by figures corresponding to those on the car in so far as they are duplicates.

The-stationary plates 3 and 4: on the framework 15 are in reversed position to those in the car 2, with the longer plate 4 disposed midway between the plates 3 and 4 on the car and with the recess 12 and its spring of the stationary plate at in line with the pins 8 on the plates 3 and 4 on the car and the recesses 12 and springs 13 on the plate ton the car in line with the pins 8 on the stationary plates 3 and t on the frame 15. By this means if a pouch be suspended from the pins 8 on the stationary plates 3 and 4: toward the direction in which the train is moving and another pouch suspended from the pins 8 on the plates 3 and 4. on the car toward the rear of the train when the car passes the pouches will be exchanged, the one from the car forced into the recess in the stationary plate on the frame 15, and the pouch suspended from the stationary frame forced into the recess in the plate at on the car.

If one pouch only is to be delivered or received, then one portion of the apparatus on the car will remain inactive and pass freely the inactive part on the stationary frame.

The framework 15 may be of any required or suitable form, and the plates 3 and 4 on the stationary frame may be arranged to slide backward or be otherwise moved out.of the way when not in use.

In the modified construction whichhas been illustrated in Fig. 6 the projections which are provided for engagement with the loops of the mail-pouch consist of yieldingtongues 16,

formed by the extremities of the flat spring 17 or its equivalent, said tongues being projected beyond the side edges of the plate or arm and slightly upturned to prevent accidental displacement of the pouch-loops. It will be observed that this is a somewhat sim' pler construction than that whereinspring tongues or projections are used in connection with pins, as in the preferred form of our construction.

What we claim as new is 1. In a combined mail-pouch deliverer and receiver, two plates in vertical alinement and with pins projecting from their opposite edges and adapted to support a mail-pouch vertically therefrom, one of said plates projecting beyond the other of said plates and having recesses therein housing spring-arms adapted to receive and support a mail-pouch when forcefully inserted therebetween, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a device of the class described, a plate disposed to be projected into the path of a moving train, recesses in the edges of said plate, spring-plates in said recessess and with their outer ends curved outwardly away from said recess, whereby means are provided for receiving and supporting mail-pouches when forcefully inserted into said recesses and between said springs, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a device of the class described, a plate disposed to be projected into the path of a moving train, and provided in its sides with recesses, resilient arms secured in the recesses and having their extremities curved outward beyond the same, and yielding bag-supporting means located adjacent to the said arms.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto affixed our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS XV. COBB.

his HENRY S. X WRIGHT.

mark

Witnesses:

ALFRED E. COBB, LONNIE W. MCOUBBIN. 

